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Sunday, 11 August 2013

Some of you may have seen the tabloid headlines back in May ‘Iza
no Mirekal – the finest food in Bristol served up with a spicy dash of stand-up
comedy – and all for charity’. For those
who didn’t, herewith. . .the news. . .

Firstly our apologies to those fine folk who volunteered and
supported the May Meal for the long delay in posting this piece. Those who know us well will know that we’ve
been a bit tied up in some of the finer details of the expansion of our family –
but now three have become four in our household – back to blogging.

All who reported back have told us that the May Meal was a
resounding success, both as an occasion, and in terms of the cuisine. The amazing Iza served up many excellent dishes,
and Shé-zér – herself something of a pudding aficionado – said the Rhubarb and
Elderflower tart was absolutely to die for. You should check out Iza’s
website. Her latest tweet on La Cuizine made
us think of what Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote about money-as-energy in his
book Work, Sex & Money and reminded us to use our energy with awareness.

14 paying diners (and non-attending donors – thank you!)
brought in nearly £400 for the appeal before food costs – with all chefs, kitchen
staff, helpers and comedians providing their services free of charge. A tip from Iza - apparently getting covered in cake is far
preferable to getting covered in mud when it comes to raising money for a good
cause (and Mirek remains in fine fettle too, for all of you who may be
concerned he might have got his hands dirty).

Gary Hooley, our comedian for the evening, had no advance
warning that the audience would largely be comprised of people for whom English
was their second language (Sorry Gaz – I’ll give you a heads up next time!). Nonetheless and the contingent from France,
Finland, Poland, (along with those from Wales, America, Yorkshire, South Africa
and Australia) have all expressed appreciation for his bold bravado in getting
belly laughs from a international contingent of (largely) Buddhist diners. None of those who attended will ever quite
look at a pillow in the same way again.

The planned raffle had to be postponed –because we didn’t quite
get everything in place in time - but we plan now to hold several more fund
raisers over coming months.

This will include the raffle, a Natural Dignity Ball
(complete with some new 17th century Jane Austen dances) and, by
popular demand, we will have another charity meal at some point next year.

Thanks once more to all involved. It’s great to be able to raise money for a
great cause and have fun at the same time.